German authorities are investigating how a man managed to slip through security and embark on a drug-fueled rampage around Chancellor Merkel’s jet. The scantily-clad hijacker could even have taken the fuelled-up plane for a joy flight.
Police detained a 24-year-old bodybuilder known as Volkan T. on
the night of July 25 after he reportedly caused US$133,720 of
damage to the jet used by Chancellor Angela Merkel. The story hit
German headlines a month ago, but it remained a mystery how
Volkan managed to penetrate airport security with such ease.
A police report leaked to German press on Tuesday revealed how it
took police over three hours to take the semi-naked party animal
into custody. It also recommended that Germany ramp up its
security in the wake of such a blatant breach.
"The investigation is focused on the charges of dangerous
interference in aviation but also trespassing and damage to
property. As part of that probe it's of interest how the accused
got onto the site and into the plane," prosecutor Ulrich
Bremer told Spiegel Online.
On the night of July 25, Volkan drove from his home in Cologne to
the airport, reportedly high on drugs. He succeeded in slipping
past a security post by saying he had been invited to a wedding
party in the officers’ quarters.
Once within the airport, Volkan scaled a barbed wire fence and
located Merkel’s jet. He clambered on to a wing and entered the
cabin through the open emergency exit, whereupon he stripped down
to his underpants and embarked upon a wild one-man party.
Volkan rampaged through the Airbus 319, setting off a fire
extinguisher on the plush interior, dancing on the wing and
deploying the inflatable emergency slide. The authorities
eventually became aware of Volkan’s antics at 8:40pm, when he
inadvertently set off an alarm while pressing buttons at random
in the plane’s cockpit.
Police arrived on the scene at around 10:16pm, surrounding the
aircraft and demanding that Volkan leave the plane. When
the 24-year-old failed to emerge, officers sent in police dogs
and the solo reveler was eventually taken into custody at 11:23pm
with two bite wounds to his leg. He has since been held in a
secure psychiatric hospital.
While her jet was being commandeered for a drug-fueled, one-man
party, Merkel was hundreds of miles away, enjoying a rendition of
the opera ‘The Flying Dutchman’ in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth.
The chancellor is currently in Bavaria as part of her campaign
ahead of September elections.